By Joe Scholz, QED Technical Director and WELL Accredited Professional
International WELL Building Institute has introduced a new rating aimed at prioritising health and safety in a post-COVID-19 world and beyond.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management is an evidence-based, third-party verified rating for all facility types, focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder education to address a post-COVID-19 environment now and broader health and safety-related issues into the future.
The rating has been designed to guide you in preparing your office, industrial premises, hotel, restaurant, retail store and more and empower owners and operators to prioritise the health of staff, visitors and stakeholders.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is among the first outcomes from the IWBI Task Force on COVID-19 and has been developed with recommendations from nearly 600 experts across public health, medicine, design, real estate, government and academia.
Covering 4 key areas, the rating focuses on the following broad themes:
More specifically, IWBI has looked at operational interventions that can be made to help mitigate infection spread across five key themes:
Priced at US$4,200 per stand alone location, but with a sliding scale pricing option for multiple locations or existing WELL Certified sites, the WELL Health-Safety seal signifies your visible commitment to supporting the health of individuals in your space.
We believe this may be considered by some to be a cost-effective option for those interested in applying WELL branding to their assets to improve tenant retention without committing to the full WELL Building Standard, which requires significantly more investment.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating is a subscription-based model that organisations earn annually to reflect their current policies and practices.
The rating is designed to be flexible, with no requirements for Precondition Features and just 15 from a possible 21 Features required. It is focused on policies and procedures, and will not require extensive performance verification testing or capital investment.
Application is online and requires the manual review of policy and procedure documentation – which is then updated each year to ensure you can demonstrate ongoing commitment to upholding operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder engagement.
QED can assist with certain aspects of WELL Health Safety rating, in particular air and water quality, cooling tower risk management plans and innovative cleaning practices verification
To learn more about WELL Health Safety Rating or apply online visit: https://www.wellcertified.com/health-safety
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